Full text of Justice Verma's report on laws to combat crime against women

The JS Verma Committee tasked to look into possible amendments to the criminal law for quicker trial and enhanced punishment for rapists, had on Wednesday slammed Delhi's police, public and the administration for not acting promptly to help the December 16 gang-rape victim.

Using strong words, the three-member committee that submitted its report to Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said: "Practically every serious breach of the rule of law can be traced to the failure of performance by the persons responsible in its implementation."

"The undisputed facts in public knowledge relating to the Delhi gang-rape unmistakably disclose the failure of many public functionaries responsible for traffic regulations, maintenance of law and order and, more importantly, their low skewed priority of dealing with complaints of sexual assault," the 631-page report said.

The panel also commented on the "disputes relating to jurisdiction of the police over the area of crime" that leads to delay in taking cognizance - an allegation made by the victim's male friend who had said that police wasted crucial time in taking the seriously injured woman to hospital while they fought over jurisdiction.

In its recommendations, the panel came down heavily on the administration, including police as well as citizens, for not helping the grievously wounded young woman and her friend who were thrown off the bus after the brutal gang-rape.